How our blog got its name

Sidney Hillman was a powerful national figure during the Great Depression, a key supporter of the New Deal, and a close ally of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

When the rumor spread that President Roosevelt ordered his party leaders to “clear it with Sidney” before announcing Harry S. Truman as his 1944 running mate, conservative critics turned on the phrase, trumpeting it as proof that the president was under the thumb of “Big Labor.”

Over the years, the phrase lost its sting and became a testament to Hillman's influence.

It's hard to imagine a labor leader wielding that kind clout today, but we like the idea—and we hope Sidney would give thumbs up to our blog.

Close window

Clear It With Sidney

In her new book, Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights, the feminist Nation columnist and poet Katha Pollitt urges pro-choicers to embrace abortion as a positive social good. The book makes a bold case in lucid and often acerbically funny prose. Pollitt deftly dissects the muddled thinking that characterizes our national abortion debate. I review the book in the latest issue of The American Prospect.

In her new book, Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights, the feminist Nation columnist and poet Katha Pollitt urges pro-choicers to embrace abortion as a positive social good. The book makes a bold case in lucid and often acerbically funny prose. Pollitt deftly dissects the muddled thinking that characterizes our national abortion debate. I review the book in the latest issue of The American Prospect.

Steve Day, a 35-year veteran of the underground coal mines of West Virginia, had the worst case of black lung anyone had ever seen. But the doctor handpicked by the coal company to assess Steve's black lung disability claim refused to acknowledge the obvious. He claimed that the huge scarred-out areas of Steve's lungs were caused by a tuberculosis, or a fungal infection, or anything but the coal dust that Steve had been breathing every day for over three decades. So, Steve got no compensation for his crippling shortness of breath.

Steve had to die before doctors could cut open his lungs and prove once and for all that coal dust choked him to death.

Chris Hamby, who started his Black Lung coverage at the Center for Public Integrity, continues his coverage as a staffer for Buzzfeed. The same doctor who misdagnosed Steve has been a consultant for countless other miners who have been denied black lung disability. Perhaps this story will help unseat the doctor as an expert in future cases.

[Photo credit: gentlepurespace, Creative Commons. Image from a children's book about coal mining.]

McClatchy and ProPublica spent a year delving into the multi-billion-dollar tax scam of misclassification in the construction industry and beyond. Read our Back Story interview with Barbara Barrett, National Editor at McClatchy, who helped oversee this mammoth undertaking.

McClatchy and ProPublica spent a year delving into the multi-billion-dollar tax scam of misclassification in the construction industry and beyond. Read our Back Story interview with Barbara Barrett, National Editor at McClatchy, who helped oversee this mammoth undertaking.

In a stunning move that could reshape the face of city schools, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission voted Monday to unilaterally cancel its teachers’ contract. The vote was unanimous.

The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers was given no advance word of the action — which happened at an early-morning SRC meeting called with minimal notice — and which figures to result in a legal challenge to the takeover law the SRC believes gives it the power to bypass negotiations and impose terms. [Philly.com]

According to Philly.com, the commission has no immediate plans to cut the pay of the 15,000 teachers and staff in the Philadelphia school system who belong to the union. The move is a bid to wrest control of the teacher's benefit program from the union in order to force steep hikes in the worker's share of health insurace.

The Commission insists that it has the power to cancel the contract, but the teachers intend to fight the decision in court.

Amazon warehouse workers have to spend a lot of time standing in security lines to get out of their workplace. Management has decided that its own workers are such a security threat that they must be painstakingly screened before they can be allowed to leave. Amazon workers are okay with these screenings, but they want to be paid for their time. The company that imposes the screening claims that it shouldn't have to pay because being cleared to leave the facility is not directly related to the workers' job! Sidney-winner Josh Eidelson reports on the upcoming Supreme Court case that will decide this issue.

In what may be a sign of the impending apocalypse, 35,000 walruses descended on a remote Alaskan beach last month. Walruses like to congregate, but a crowd this size is unprecedented. According to Climate Progress, some conservationists believe that the walruses are coming ashore because there's not enough sea ice for them to rest on. Unlike seals, walruses need to take breaks from swimming. Normally, they would be congregating in smaller groups on pieces of ice at sea.

Maria Fernandez worked three near-minimum wage jobs at Dunkin' Donuts in Northern New Jersey. Like many low-wage workers, she spent a lot of time shuttling between jobs, dozing in her car between shifts. On Aug 25, Fernandez settled in for a nap in the parking lot outside one of her jobs and never woke up. A gas can in her trunk had spilled and the fumes suffocated her as she slept. She was 32.

Sleep deprivation is a major social problem in the United States at large, and low-income Americans are especially hard-hit. Half of people in households with incomes below $30,000/yr report sleeping less than 6 hours a night. Lack of sleep increases the risk of accidents and exacerbates many chronic health problems.